But before dessert, savories! We enjoyed an open-faced pimento cheese sandwich, an egg salad on white with chives on the edge, cucumber (of course!), ham and cheese fingers with pickle and a salmon salad sandwich.

Barb makes great fillings and thanks to Kate for helping us pull them together the morning of the tea, we even had time to relax on the porch and take in the morning air before guests arrived!

After we got people started on their scarf projects, we slipped upstairs to finish dressing the table and putting out the sandwiches and sweets. We also had (though not pictured) delicious fruit skewers.

And of course, tea was readied!

Time to sit down and enjoy lunch!

After we were stuffed it was time for a walk! Barb has mowed a seven-ring labyrinth in her yard and the group walked out in back, following its meditative path!

But before we said goodbye to the guests, here's another group photo! (This time I'm the photographer!)

Friday, May 27, 2016

When I went out to help set up our Make-and-Take Tea and Project, Barb and I found time to take a break. (Especially after the tea!). She lives in the country and the birds were bountiful. And nesting!

So, here are a few of our Michigan birds. The redwinged blackbird is always seems to mark the arrival of spring, as much as a robin does.

Barb must have blackbird friendly food because these colorful little guys were everywhere!

They're feisty fellows, too! We witnessed more than one scrap among these fellows!

My favorite, and one of the fastest moving, was the red bellied woodpecker.

I don't know why they call these the red-bellied woodpecker. As far as I could see the had tummies white as snow.

But their heads were spectacular! That's a little sparrow next to him.

And of course the cardinal. We see cardinals year round here.

And year round, they are a favorite.

Of course, it all comes back to the new life. Pretty soon I'm thinking there will be a few more robins in Barb's neck of the woods!

The tea post will be coming up! Meanwhile, I may be spottier than usual visiting your blogs and commenting. Real life appears to be getting into the way of Cyber Life! A combination of travel, internet issues and a few other things are placing time at a premium. I'll do my best to keep up but might be slower than usual with comment replies!

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Last year my friend Barb and I hosted a Make-and-Take tea at Barb's where we had a project, followed by a full tea luncheon. We had such a good time we had to do it again! The tea part of this afternoon will be in another post but this is the very easy and delightful activity.

This time our project was creating a 72" habotai silk scarf. We started with blanks ordered from Dharma Trading Company and used Sharpie Markers for the design.

I found this project thanks to one of you -- Elizabeth from Altered Book Lover, who first featured it here. (She has other links on her sidebar related to Sharpies if you find this interesting!)

You can do this a number of ways -- you can draw on your scarf from the beginning to end and then with the magic of rubbing alcohol go through the whole scarf making the colors bleed and pop in the most amazing of ways. This was the method we did.

(Another method involves taking a small container and using a rubber band, making a portion of your fabric tight, coloring it and then dropping the alcohol. I've done this too -- both work well but for our purposes, not fussing with containers was easier.)

There is only one rule to this project. Leave your inner Norman Rockwell at home because it will probably NOT look like how you think it will! You can try patterns and a shade of them will remain -- but don't count on it!

Supplies include Sharpies, an eye dropper or similar and alcohol. Lots of paper towels will help protect your surface. When the project is done, heat set it by 10 minutes in a hot dryer (probably in a pillow case or laundry bag so it doesn't snag). Hand wash in cold.

We had a grand group of creative people and everyone's scarf was completely different.

Jan did hers by drawing on the dark squares and then adding her color around it. (Her inner Norman Rockwell didn't quite go to sleep but it was one of my favorites and turned out as she wanted it!)

Rosemary went with lots of purples and a violet theme.

Kate went the stripe route. The colors were great with what she wore to the event!

Kate and Susie were the only ones using orange in their scarves. It really popped!

Julie's was another abstract that looked perfect with her outfit of the day.

So did Tracey's! Lots of blues with some black.

And Pat came up with a wonderful floral print.

There are a couple of guidelines that I haven't mentioned -- one is not to forget the hem area. It doesn't have to be colored in, of course, but if some of your colors start to bleed into the hem, intentionally add it a bit more, just so it looks planned!

We did this project easily in 90 minutes. And quite literally, a child could do it. What a fun thing to do with a grandchild! It might be a homemade Christmas present mom could actually use, not just love to pieces!

You can also do this on other surfaces -- a very rough, fiberous paper, a mulberry paper or cotton. It doesn't work so well on materials with too much poly on them. Natural fibers are best.

I loved Barb's apron!

I think you can see from the happy faces that we were very pleased with our scarves!

Thanks, Elizabeth, for posting the idea!

This post will be shared with Thoughts of Home on Thursday where you'll find lots of fun, creative links with projects, home decor, recipes and more! And don't come back for tea time!

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About Gypsy!

The Marmelade Gypsy was a big orange cat who happened into my life when he was abandoned long ago and took up residence in the window well. Within a few months, he had moved inside the house and took up residence inside my heart (and on the couch, in the window, on the bed...) He was one sweet boy, the ultimate cat who served as pet therapist, executive assistant and secret keeper. He will always hold a huge spot in my heart. Goodbye, Mr. Gyps.

Lizzie Cosette

Lizzie Cosette may be neither marmelade nor a gypsy, but she is indeed a "Marmee," as the March sisters in "Little Women" referred to their mother. Found in an abandoned garage with three kittens, she was fostered until she found a new home and human to love her.

Happy Together!

Every step of the way I will walk with you and never leave you stranded. -- Rumi

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About Me

I live with the guiding principles of joy, compassion, fun, friendship, family, love, creativity and happiness. I love sharing my art, my family history, my world and equally enjoy hearing about yours.